Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Copadichromis sp. "Yellow Black Lupingu"

Copadichromis sp. "Yellow Black Lupingu" "Lupingu"

Lupingu — loo-PEEN-goo (approx.)

The fish

How this cichlid is built, and everything about how it lives, eats and breeds, is shared with the species — this page doesn't repeat it.

Read the full Copadichromis sp. "Yellow Black Lupingu" account →

Specific to Lupingu

  • Collection locality & coordinates
  • Local coloration — best judged from the living-fish photo
  • Kept as a single-provenance line, never crossed with other collection points

Care facts below are the species' — shared with Copadichromis sp. "Yellow Black Lupingu".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size6 in15 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth10–98 ft3–30 m
DietPresumed open-water zooplanktivore, picking copepods, cladocerans and similar small invertebrates from the water column with a small protrusible mouth, per genus pattern; no population-specific dietary study has been published.
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder (polygamous, lek-style)not documented for this form; utaka-typical ~30–60 eggs (mean ~49 in the open-water congener C. chrysonotus, Smith 2000)
Sexual dimorphismYesNot documented in detail. The trade name indicates a yellow-and-black breeding colouration in males; females and non-breeders presumed plain silvery, per genus pattern.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Lupingu population

Copadichromis sp. "Yellow Black Lupingu" "Lupingu" is the Lupingu population of Copadichromis sp. "Yellow Black Lupingu", a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Malawi in the far northern part of the lake. It is the same species as Copadichromis sp. "Yellow Black Lupingu", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Lupingu fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Copadichromis sp. "Yellow Black Lupingu" is an undescribed Copadichromis population recorded at Lupingu, on the Tanzanian shore of northern Lake Malawi, named for a yellow-and-black breeding colouration in males. Lupingu is a documented collection locality for a number of other Lake Malawi cichlid populations, but no dedicated taxonomic study of this particular Copadichromis form has been published, and its relationship to described members of the genus remains undetermined.

Full Copadichromis sp. "Yellow Black Lupingu" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Copadichromis sp. "Yellow Black Lupingu" "Lupingu"
  2. malawi.si — Copadichromis (Konings-based species database; Malawi genus overview)
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Copadichromis genus profile (utaka, plankton-feeders)
  4. Smith, L.W. 2000. The reproductive biology of an open-water spawning Lake Malawi cichlid, Copadichromis chrysonotus. African Zoology 35(2): 151-164 [mean fecundity ~49 eggs in an open-water utaka]